it is monday morning. coming up on "early today", investigators begin rounding up evidence from sunday's deadly commuter rail crash near new york city. as we hear some of those on board. >> it seems like it was going pretty fast. i looked at my two -- i screamed at my two friends that were going over. i couldn't believe it. i was in shock. new details into the investigation into that fiery car crash that killed "fast & furious" star paul walker as reaction pours in. plus, good news and bad news for black friday retailers. a minnesota man pays the price for making it snow. and is this the future of home delivery? "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for monday, december 2nd.

good morning. we're going to begin with that deadly train derailment in new york. this morning, the death toll stands at four with dozens injured, some still in critical condition. all of this as investigators try to piece together what caused the train to jump the tracks. nbc's jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: this morning, investigators continue to work through the wreckage of a metro north commuter train in the bronx. >> our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened. >> reporter: passengers say they sensed there was a problem as the train rumbled through the sharp turn at harlem and hudson river. about 20 minutes before the last stop at grand central station. >> it was going fast. it was flying. >> reporter: out of control and off the tracks. >> there were people screaming, crying out for god, asking for families. it was pretty gruesome. >> reporter: four people killed, more than 60 injured. >> i hit the window, all the

chairs came out. a woman hit me. >> reporter: survivors described the moment of impact. >> as we were going over, i looked at my two -- i screamed. i screamed at my two friends, you know, that were going over. >> reporter: local state and federal investigators led by the national transportation safety board continue to pore over the scene. much of the focus on the two cars on their side, inches from the water. the complete investigation is expected to take a week to ten days. jay gray, nbc news, new york. >> and we're also learning more about the victims. one, a member of the nbc family. 58-year-old jim lovell was an audio tech on the "today" show. he was on his way to help set up the christmas tree at rockefeller center. in a statement executive producer don nash called him one of the nicest guys he ever met. a tragic end for a hollywood hero of speed. investigators are trying to figure out what caused "fast & furious" paul walker.

to-day in a high-speed crash. they say speed was a factor. he was a passenger in a red porsche driven in valencia, california. it crashed into a light pole and a tree and burst into flames, killing both men. walker had just attended a charity event for his own disaster relief organization to benefit the victims of the typhoon in philippines. >> people are without homes, people are without food, people are without water, it's a heavy, heavy time. right now, it's a race for relief. the needs are going to be extensive for a long period of time. >> walker's co-stars and fan alike are just distraught over his sudden death. actor tyree gibson broke down in tears. he held a flower in his hand as a tribute and van diesel saying brother i'll miss you very much. i'm absolutely speechless, heaven has a new angel, r.i.p. walker started on camera at 2

years old. he later starred in movies like pleasantville and into the blue. with the blockbuster "fast & furious" catapulting him into worldwide fame when it began in 2001. at the time of his death he was working on the series' latest installment due out july 14. but his untimely death leaves the film uncertain. his next film "hours" is due out in two weeks. walker is survived by his 15-year-old daughter meadow. now to the latest on the problem-plagued obama care website. over the weekend, the white house it met a crucial deadline and fixed many glitches. le the siten speed has more than tripled, with 400 bugs gone. the president assess healthcare.gov now works for the vast mortgage of applicants. applicants must enroll for coverage starting as soon as the new year, by december 23rd. a man in minnesota made it

snow on some lucky shoppers at the mall of america as "let it snow" was sung from a trio down below. the man threw 1,000 one-dollar bills off the mall's fourth floor. he said he had a rough year and he just wanted to make people happy on black friday. unfortunately, police weren't too happy with the man's stunt as they charged him with disorderly conduct. the man argued, quote, i don't see how holiday cheer is disorderly conduct. i bet there were a lot of happy faces there somewhere. here's something you don't see very day. some hunters in north dakota caught a glimpse of this. a spinning disk of ice about 50 feet in diameter in the middle of the cheyenne river, hydrologists say that the ice disk was likely formed by cold, dense air and an eddy in the river. bill karins told us -- how did that happen, bill? >> have you ever seen like an eddy in a stream, a fast-moving stream? >> kind of like the drain. >> and then all of a sudden --

it got cold enough, the ice started forming it just started spinning. i've never seen it either, i'm glad they captured it. in the mountain west, things will get interesting in hurry. cold air on the way, we've got a storm brewing, right now it's the calm before the storm. we've so the green on the map, the snow at the highest elevations. we've got winter storm watches up for many areas of the west and even some winter storm warnings that cover much of the state of montana. and we'll get snow in areas of nevada and utah and colorado. so ski country very excited about this. >> as we head towards the christmas holiday, one of the busiest times to ski between christmas and new year's eve, it will be gold. wasatch range, the san juans, as far as washington state, a little bit of snow in the cascades, and also in areas of oregon. not a lot. the heavier snows do miss you. we're getting some snow out of this at the higher elevations.

as cold air continues to move in, even some of the low-lying valleys may see some snowflakes in seattle, there's a company of snowflakes coming out of the clouds, it's going to be getting colder in the dayse, some places won't hit 40 for at least another week. so cold and some snow. >> hey, it's december, right? >> it's right on cue, i guess for the northern rockies. >> thank you, bill. could this be the biggest cyber monday of all timings? we're going to have a live report. plus, this adorable little gal finally has a name. we're going to tell you what it is after this break.

welcome back. some stories making news. tragedy struck out in kansas city's arrowhead stadium.

on sunday. police say one person died, three people are being questioned after an altercation in the stadium parking lot during a chiefs/broncos game. police say the man who died was found inside someone else's car and a fight broke out. the death is being treat as a homicide. thailand's capital was rocked by protests over the weekend as thousands took to the streets, seeking the ousting of the country's prime minister. protesters hurled molotov cocktails at riot police. at least four people were killed. prince harry is officially on his way to the south pole while staying in a toasty palace may seem much more appealing, harry has decided to compete in a wounded warrior race consisting of a 13-mile trek through subfreezing temperatures. he's competing against other teams, including the u.s. and australia, but harry says, quote, obviously the uk will win. a new poll by the associated press say only a third of americans say they trust others.

a record low since the poll was first conducted in 1972. and the 100-day-old giant panda cub will be called sa sau bao, which means treasure. it's the sunday after thanksgiving, which could only mean one thing, online shopping. nbc's sarah dallof joins us live from phoenix. sarah, what kinds of deals are we talking? >> reporter: all sorts of deals, and they don't come with the chaos and the crowds of black friday. here at amazon, they're releasing new deals every ten minutes to keep cybershoppers coming back. those deals include deals on

kindles, go pro cameras, toys, clothing, electronics. all across the board. a live picture of the floor, they've hired about 70,000 extra workers to handle this holiday rush. during the next month. last year amazon customers ordered 26.5 million things during cyber monday. that's more than 300 a second. this year, they expect it to be even bigger. overall, cyber monday this year expected to be the largest yet. an estimated $2 billion in sales. the biggest, most profitable cyber monday ever. >> thanks, sarah. now for business, we turn to cnbc's hampton pearson, good morning, hampton.

>> shop more, spend less, that's what the national retail federation says. 141 million people hit the stores this holiday weekend from last year, but the average person spent about $407, down 4% from thanksgiving weekend a year ago. meanwhile amazon ceo jeff bezos says the company is testing out drones to carry packages. amazon probably won't introduce what he called octo-copters for about four years. comcast is testing new technology to insert new ads into old episodes of tv shows that people are watching on demand it could help generate a little more ad revenue and we're all in favor of that. back to you and have a great day. just ahead, an exciting weekend in football. we have your college and nfl

football highlights. and a hockey takeover, next.

what a great weekend for football fans, let's start with sunday night's nfl game. the nfc east showdown between the redskins and giants. the redskins leads the game 14-0, but the giants made a quick comeback to tie it up 14-14 before the half. in the second half, the giants held off the redskins scoring ten points in the fourth quarter

winning the game 24-17. the eagles, they held off the cardinals. they're now second in the nfc east beating arizona 24-21. and in the vikings/bears game. vikings coderelle patterson has an unstoppable touchdown celebrates with an official high five. the vikings win in overtime, 23-20. in their second meeting, the broncos pulled out a close win with the chiefs with kansas city's miles davis with this explosive 108-yard touchdown run. after the kickoff starting in the second quarter, broncos win 35-28. denver leads the afc west. and the patriots leading the afc east squeaked a win over the texans. the game was tied 31-31 in the fourth when new england's steven gostkowski nailed the field goal for the win 34-21. embattled toronto mayor rob ford was caught at the

bills/falcons game eating some chicken wings and posing with a fred jackson jersey. and even posed with fans, but one fan tweeted that ford stole his seat. don't worry, he got it back. the bills, though, lost, 34-31. on to the miracle iron bowl finish that stunned alabama. tied 28-28, with seconds left in the game, alabama's field goal goes short. auburn's chris davis saves the day, he hauls in the end zone to an end zone touchdown. auburn wins 34-28. big game between big ten heated rivals michigan and ohio state. during the second, a monster brawl ends with three players ejected. in the game, the wolverines trailing, go for two to win it with just seconds left. intercepted, buckeyes win 42-41. in the bcs, auburn knocked alabama down to fourth. the seminoles are number one in the ap poll for the first time since 2000. ohio state moves to second,

auburn is third, and mizzou hangs on to fifth. olympic skier lindsey vonn has decided to delay knee surgery from an injury two weeks ago, so that she can continue training and compete in the sochi olympics. and in hockey, the 20-year teddy because toss tradition was in full swing for the calgary hitmen. of course, check it out. patakin scored the first goal of the game. that started the launch of over 25,000 stuffed bears that flew on to the ice. the bears are donated to charity for children. just ahead, fire and ice at the box office, and some pretty big thanksgiving records get shattered. we're going to have details next.

welcome back, hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend. the weather cooperated for the most part, anyone doing any traveling. now we get to the interesting stuff. december is when we start to get some considerable storms heading towards the pacific northwest. even into california. california looks relatively safe. but this onshore flow and the cold flow is going to continue, coming from first off the ocean today. then from the north in the days ahead, it will bring the snow levels way down. as the storm moves out, look at the cold air left in its wake. 33 for a high in seattle. i mentioned it will be a cold week, with daytime highs in the low 30s each and every day. even by seattle standards, that's on the chilly side. in entertainment, the

thanksgiving weekend was the best-ever for the box office, bringing in $294 million. "hunger gamgs" stayed number one this long weekend, earning $110 million at the box office. disney's "frozen" second $93 million. disney's biggest open since "the lion king." rounding out the top five, "thor: the dark world," "the best man holiday" and "homefront." and "fifty shades of grey" author e.l. james instagramed this photo from the first day of filming in vancouver. michael jordan and yvette prieto are expecting, but jordan has three grown children from a previous marriage. after last year's in-flight safety videos, featuring "lord of the rings" characters, there's a life-sized picture of a dragon on a plane.

>> and the kardashian clan has released their christmas card for 2013. baby north is not in there that's an interesting photo. >> why aren't their significant others in that? >> it's just all about them. >> or is it because they're on the outs with some of them, maybe? >> did you see -- bruce jenner? he's like -- he's locked in some kind of a -- >> in that picture? >> in the picture. it's funny looking. he's trapped in some kind of glass area. i'm betty nguyen, this is "early today," we hope it's just your first stop of the day here on nbc.

leading the news, "the new york times," scottish authorities seek choose the copter crash. investigators are trying to figure out what caused a police helicopter to plunge through the roof of a crowded pub in glascow late friday, killing nine people. and in "usa today" china launches its first new rover mission. the robotic robot touches down on the lunar surface it would make china the third country to land on the moon behind the u.s. and soviet union. and topping our news, investigators have recovered the black boxes in the deadly metro north train derailment in new york city. four people were killed and more than 60 were injured. whens cars jumped the tracks on sunday. as many as 11 are in critical condition. police say speed is the

factor in the fiery car crash that killed "fast & furious" star paul walker. the star is survived by his 15-year-old daughter meadow. switching gears to cyber monday. it is today. and analysts say the deals are just as good or even better than black friday. sales are expected to reach $1.5 billion. up 25% from last year. oh, christmas tree, oh christmas tree. . i'm not going to seng that, it's really bad. this one you have got to see. over 100,000 people in rio de janeiro watched as the world kicked off the holidays by lighting of the world's largest floating christmas tree. the tree is 297 feet tall. it was lit with more than 3 million lights. can you imagine stringing three million lights, bill? and if that wasn't bright enough for you, the tree was glowing underneath, a grand fireworks display. they know how to do it. >> they've got the world cup --

>> carnivale. >> and now this cool christmas tree. time for a look ahead and a look back. same-sex marriage is legal in hawaii today. after the governor signed a law in november, hawaiian tourism is expected to soar as same-sex couples plan weddings. and barney clark receive the first artificial heart implant as reported on nbc. >> the heart still is beating. the artificial heart placed in the chest of a 61-year-old defendant dentist by a team of university of utah surgeons in salt lake city. happy birthday to green bay packers quarterback aaron rodgers 30. britney spears is 32. and michael mcdonald of the doobie brothers is 61. er here's what's coming up later on today. after a hair-raising month, matt, al and willie shave off their beards for charity. thank you for watching "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz.

have a terrific monday.

killed over a game console.1 what san francisco police are doing this morningnbq to catch suspect who they say robbed, thvc$áru a man right in the middle of the afternoon. >> plus, protests to planned parenthood. why demonstrators -- >> and natural gas will oncet< again flow through a carlos. it is monday,çó december 2n. this isxd today in the +-.okñrñi good morning andñiñi happy monday. >>w3 first,çó